Pilkington
Planar™ Entices Readers to One of USA’s Busiest Libraries

The fundamental role of glass in the built environment is
to allow light into spaces while keeping the elements out.
But it often also plays a defining aesthetic role too,
giving buildings their form and setting them apart as a
piece of design work.

That was the case with the glazing installation at the newly
refurbished Elmhurst Library in Queens, New York. Two
structurally glazed ‘jewel boxes’ now dominate the street-facing
part of the building, enticing visitors to enter the space.

The refurbishment of the historic building – originally
constructed in 1906 – was a significant project for Queens,
doubling the floor-space of the building and modernising
facilities to meet the needs of today’s library users. The newly
opened facility is expected to attract more than 1.2 million
visitors per year, making it one of the busiest libraries in the
USA.

Engineers from Pilkington Architectural and Pilkington
Planar™ partner installer W&W Glass worked closely with the
architect during the design process to specify a system that
would deliver maximum transparency, as well as high levels of
structural strength.

The boxes are constructed from heavy-duty Pilkington
Optiwhite™ true low-iron insulating glass units with a low-e
coating, which reduces heat-loss from the space by reducing the
amount of radiation of energy outwards from the building. Adding
to the visual impact of the glazing, as well as helping reduce
excessive heating and glare from the sun, is a white,
silk-screened “frit” of vertical lines.

For the roof, Pilkington Optiwhite™ toughened and
heat-strengthened laminated glass was used to deliver the
required mechanical strength.

The glass walls are supported by cantilevered Pilkington
Optiwhite™ low-iron SentryGlas® laminated glass fins, which lend
high levels of structural support without significantly reducing
the transparency of the system.

Phil Savage, commercial contracts manager at Pilkington
United Kingdom Limited, said: "This is another prestigious
project that showcases the market-leading capabilities of the
Pilkington Planar™ system to deliver spectacular architectural
features that really define a building’s appearance."

Jeff Haber, Managing Partner at W&W Glass added: "We have
worked with Pilkington for more than 20 years, and the
Pilkington Planar™ system was the best choice for this project
to achieve the design intent."

"The quality of the system itself and the excellent service
and engineering support that comes along with it, makes
Pilkington the go-to choice for structural glazing. The results
achieved on this building are testament to that."

The Elmhurst Library houses more than 75,000 books and
multimedia for adults and children in English, and 36,000 books
and multimedia in nine different languages, along with a wide
range of IT resources available to users.